Today I have been working in my sketchbook and experimenting with editing my flower shoot. I like having the images edited as stills but I am working to make a video using these images. I am hoping this video can be used when I post my first article. I want to use text that will be relevant to my article topic and then using the caption discuss what the article is about and where to access it.

collaborating  with other projects – 

Today I joined Stephany on a photoshoot in the studio for her FMP project. this was a very exciting shoot to be a part of as it’s very different from mine and it was fun to see a project with an aesthetic that is quite opposite to mine. Steph had me come to assist her as well as get as much footage for her behind the scenes as possible. We began by setting up which was interesting as I had not thought of doing shoots with such big props but rather experimenting with lighting. The set-up was very bright, and we had lots of fun decorating the space. This was also a great time for me to get a look into what the studio environment is like as I have not done a shoot in the studio yet. I was able to see how the lights and backdrops worked as well as get an insight into some issues I could face such as makeup, and outfit changes. This ensured me that the best way to face a studio shoot is with as much preparation as possible. Having outfits and hair planned out as well as sketches of certain poses and the lighting effects I might want to experiment with. For my test shoot, I want to make sure I have done some research by watching YouTube tutorials or talking to the staff in the camera department about the different effects I want to create and the best ways to achieve them. As well as testing different ones out to see if I like the lighting with my model or the styling. Preparing for all these things will ensure my final shoot will be as stress-free as possible. Steph’s shoot was successful, and she took lots of amazing pictures I was so happy to be able to be a part of the shoot.

Today I have been doing some further planning for my photo shoot two. I wanted to make a mood board to get a further idea of what I want to achieve from this photo shoot. I have found a location in Brighton where I hope to take my models for this shoot. I am really happy with the location as it has a mixture of woods and lots of flowers. I was concerned I was not going to be able to find a landscape with both wooded parts and flowers at this time of year. Lucky, There is a park near Varley Park that I went to see if it would be good for this photo shoot that has miles of bluebells. I thought this would be the perfect location for this shoot. I want to do my styling to contrast next to these flowers as they are so unique and i think they will make my images really stand out. For the photography I am planning on going to the location at sunset to get some interesting lighting. However I also want to try and experiment with my lighting. I want to be getting bright images so on the day I plan to use my flash to get that over exposed look.  I also want to work on my editing more this year so I plan to also experiment with the images in Photoshop and light room to get the best out comes.

pinterest board – https://www.pinterest.co.uk/sarahfox203/brand/photoshoot-two-inspo/

Planning photo shoot two

Today I have begun planning and researching for my second photo shoot. I wanted to do a photo shoot continuing my discussion on our disconnections with nature. I liked the idea of in this photo shoot having the models be in a landscape of flowers. I am hoping this photo shoot will embrace the nature around the models. I want to use my styling to work well with the location around it and focus on colour in order to standing out. I am hoping to use colours and materials that will contrast well with the background. I want to get a mixture of both close us and distanced photos like in my sketchbooks concept page.

Today I finished my test shoot for my photo shoot one. I found this really helpful on understanding how to stay organised while in a studio. Having just one model in the space made it easier to have everything laid out and organised for my model. I also had a friend come to hold the flowers in front of the camera which was a great help. As I suspected the lighting took a lot longer than the actual time spent on taking photos. at first I had the background and the model lit but after taking some test photos I could see the flower was not lighting the way I wanted it to. After a few different attempts of set ups I finally, decided to not bother lighting the background as I felt the focus is all on the center of the model. Instead I used those lights on my model and the front left light to add more depth. I then turned the front right camera completely away from my model and instead facing my camera where I was able to now have my flower lit much better. I still had to play with the direction of the light so I was not focusing too much light into the camera. Overall, I am really pleased with the outcome of these images. I am happy with how I kept myself organised and by preparing beforehand I had no issues of needing props or extra bits. For my final shoot I want to experiment more with my background.  I am happy with the outcome and see myself using these images as outcomes but I would also like to add a bit more colour and depth into the images. I would like to experiment with maybe bringing in backdrops as I think using coloured lighting would not appear the way I want in a studio. I also want to avoid my model being lit in colour as I would like her to stand out. My next aims are to start organizing the day for my final shoot. as the studio gets booked quickly I have agreed with Richard to try and get all my studio work done in one day to allow other students to have a day in the space. I will have to ensure I have my day and model organised as well as having each outfit prepared with how I want the model posing and any accessories or props. Finally, I wanted to do another shoot where I am taking close up images of flowers but as the I said previously the studio is wanted by a lot of students. thereby I am going to also try and take the time my model is getting hair and make up sorted to take these images.

Final shoot reflection

Today was my day in the studio for my final photo shoot. The shoot today did not go as I would have hoped. I spent the morning taking my photos of the flowers close up while we waited for my model to arrive. Unfortunately, the model could not make it to Brighton due to train strikes. I was unable to find a model so late notice so was not able to get more shoots for this shoot. Due to the  studio being booked up I was not able to get another day in the studio. However, I am really happy with the outcomes of my test shoot and I am happy to use them as outcomes. I also got plenty of images of my flowers and I am also happy with them outcomes. Moving forward, I am going to focus on my next shoots to ensure they are well planned out and prepared.

here I started editing my next few photos. for this images I wanted the white to really glow. I loved this image for the way the sun light is hitting my model. and I wanted to take advantage of that in my editing. In the raw image my models face was dark in the shadows so I used a new mask to edit here face and brighten that area up.

I this image when I was taking the photograph I used my camera flash to get the image to look brighter.

I love this image and I was excited to start editing this. I was happy I decided to do different landscapes as I think they will stand out on my Instagram when I start trying out different layouts. I wanted to try this image in color and black and white. As I am doing a slow media platform I am planning on posting some of my best images more than once. Having some images in colour and black white will ensure my viewers are not disappointed by seeing content more than once.

ideas and planning

In today’s lesson, we began creating our ideas for our exhibition. I struggled throughout today’s work as I was not sure how I would communicate my brand’s values in a physical experience. As I spent the majority of my time looking for inspiration, I decided to try creating something that could help me in my first photoshoot instead. For my first shoot, I have begun making some plans and inspiration boards. To follow on from my AGP675 research on our disconnection with nature I have been trying to think of some ways I could showcase this through photography. This led me to find an image by … (figure one) which is something I would like to use to inspire my shoot. I used the lesson time to draw out some models on tracing paper in poses I would imagine my model doing. I then explained my concept as well as my inspiration and asked people to draw on separate paper some flowers and position them where they think look the best. Using a light box, it made the drawings come through the tracing paper well. My aim of this was to think about how I will engage with people during my exhibition and how I could start conversations through my art. While talking to people many people add their thoughts to how they would recreate this style of photography, Which was very helpful. As well as including their thoughts on how this could be developed into my final exhibition.

exhibition plans–

today I have begun developing my plans for my exhibition. Going on from my last blog I continued to think of ways I can bring the conversation of our disconnection with nature into a physical experience. I liked the idea of creating a space full of big flowers people can walk around as if they are exploring a garden. I thought something like this is very ‘Instagramable’ and something to bring more attention to my social media which is important to my brand. as well as it being cohesive to my brands visuals and aesthetics. I do have some concerns as I am coming closer to the deadline, I don’t want to give myself a task that I wouldn’t be able to make to a standard happy with. I also found some brands that have done a similar thing, and I wouldn’t want to create something that has been done many times before. As I continue working, I want to try developing these ideas into something I feel more confident about.

Further Research-

For some further research I visited Kew Gardens. I was hoping going to see the displays of flowers would help me with coming up with more ideas on how I could display a exhibition. However I am still not really feeling inspired by this idea and I am going to start exploring a new direction.

Moving forward-

After think bit more about the type of space I want to create I began trying to think how I would want a viewer to feel when looking at my work. I started to think of ways I could create a space that would take the aspects of my project such as escapism, freedom, relaxation, etc. I thought it could be interesting to make a space that used materials to seperate my space from others. this way the area can be calm and have no distractions. I still want to develop this idea, I plan on making sketches and mood boards for my sketchbook.

Reflection on photo shoot three-

Today I finished my third and final photo shoot. I wasn’t as pleased with this shoot compared to my others. I think I could have experimented a bit more but I was in a bit of a rush as it was getting dark very fast. I had to work around my models schedules and that left us with not as much time as I would have liked. To overcome this I am thinking of drawing onto my photos and working around the parts I do not like. However, I am happy I got to work in a new location. I am pleased with the variety of different settings I have worked with in this project. I have tried hard to work in a new location each shoot as I wanted to have photography that all looked different. I didn’t have as much time to do sketches for this shoot and I think it shows. I have not got much variety in different poses and I think I struggled not having a clear plan of what I wanted. From this I have learnt I work best with notes and sketches of exactly what I want in order to feel more confident.

planning for photo shoot three

Today I have started planning for my third photoshoot. For this photoshoot I am planning to use lots of knitwear and patterned materials. I am hoping to stay away from an overload of colour and instead use whites and blacks and pair them with lighter colours such as  blues, greens and purples. For this photoshoot I want to follow my theme of using the nature around me. I want to attempt to have the images focusing more on the colours of the landscape.  In my last photoshoot I wanted to have more photoshoots where I had more than one model. So in this next photoshoot I had planned to have two models. I was hoping to get a mixture of shots of them togeather and alone so  I had lots of variety for the social media pages. Before the shoot I went to the location I was planning on using to see if I was happy with it. I went to see the different spots we could possibly use with my models.

In this photo shoot I was originally going to have more than one model. However, last minute my second model could not show up. Instead I decided to take the images for both models on different days. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to get shots of the models together but I did want to have more variety for my social media as so far I had only had one model each shoot. As I said in my sketchbook I wanted to start getting more images of the behind the scenes parts of my photoshoot for my social media stories and highlights. I also thought I could use images like this as teasers and sneak peaks into shoots I am doing.

Photo shoot two – part two – 

Further research into branding, brand identity and target market 

logo Ideas- 

For some more experimentation, I wanted to develop a logo for my brand. I had previously made a logo in the last module, but I wasn’t too pleased with the outcome and felt it didn’t look like the style I was trying to portray. Since starting the new module the visuals of my project have changed a lot. For the logo I want to try do something inspired by the sunset. a lot of my photography ideas have all been inspired by the lighting of sunset. I want to try some different experiments to try include the colours of a sunset into some kind of art I could use as a logo. I am aiming to have a much more clean look to my brand now compared to the first attempt of making a logo.

colour pallet- 

I had not really thought on certain colours I wanted to represent my brand until I started scrolling through my Pinterest. I could see I am very attracted to muted down colours and seem to always use them as my inspiration. Most of the photography I am looking at for this project is taken around sen sets to get interesting lighting. This is something I want to have within my own work as I think it captures my brands links to nature. I also think these are the colour that best represents my brand thereby I would like to try using the dominate colours in a sunset or sunrise.

competitors similar brands –

Today I’ve started looking into more brands that are doing a similar thing to me. Some of the work I’ve looked at have a similar aesthetic whereas others are doing a similar branding plan to me.

A clothing brand I recently found through TikTok called Stevie June. From the first video I saw an immediate similarity in the photo style that I have been looking at. As well as this I think this brand has a similar vibe to me as I concentrate on using mostly plaid materials. Stevie June uses deadstock materials to create timeless co-ord sets, the brand grew a following through their social media such as TikTok and Instagram posts. Below I included a video of one of Stevie Junes tiktoks. where they show the process of one of the photo shoots for their Instagram page. This video got a lot of popularity and did a great job at showing the clothing line, the aesthetic, and some behind the scenes.

@stevieejune

❤️

♬ hello its me by todd rundgren – TAO

The next brand I looked into is called Pinkorange also known as @pinkorange_official on Instagram. Pinkorange is a Dutch clothing brand that is a collaborative space whereby the team introduces new artists each collection with the same subject each time of bringing nature and surroundings as inspiration to their work. The team will find new artists and invite them to the island of  Vlieland for a short time and give them the space to feel inspired to create something for the brand. Like my own project this clothing brand is using their own surroundings, nature, and the disconnection we have created between these topics bring it into their work. The Dutch brand named themselves pink orange as a remark to the sunset colours they would often see. Below I included a screenshot of the brand Instagram page where you can see the use of nature, photography and fashion.

The consumer-

As further research I wanted to look into my target audience with more detail. I want to have a deep understanding of who my demographic is further than assumptions, In order form me to answer other questions such as how I would engage with them. I begun my research looking at the book ‘view’ which gave me a good start on how I might do research in around this topic. This book was really helpful in terms of trend forecasting and getting an understanding of what my target audience is going to be interested in in the near future. I then started reading the sustainable fashion communication playbook this gave me great insight into the different types of consumers.

I then started reading some articles, the first being by Sedef Akgüngör and Emine Dursun-Kilic this article delves into the ‘consumers attitude and perceptions towards sustainable fashion’ the research article uncovers the influences that make the consumer interested in buying from a sustainable brand. It shows apprehensive insights for a marketing strategy towards a Eco friendly brand that sells clothing using dead stock materials.

the second research article I read by Antonino Galati, Alberto Mattiacci, and Daniele Dalli called Eco-friendly fashion consumer behavior: an empirical analysis of Italian consumers’ this piece of research investigates the influences that are encouraging Eco-friendly consumption. as well as insight into engaging with a demographic interested in sustainable fashion brands.